After last weeks defeat by The Mug, Shambles found themselves languishing at the bottom of the table (oh it were soo different this time last season!), and surely a 3rd defeat in a row was not on the cards?

This game saw the return of Sinbad,Blink & Jethro while Flash, Postie and Will.I.Am were "rested".

Shambles kicked off , passing the ball around nicely, with even Blues seemingly returning from a trip to PASSadena to learn the PASS-o-doble in his Vauxhall PASSatt! Sinbad surged down the right following a pass from Jethro and squeezed the ball home, GOOOAAALLLLL, less than a minute...Blues must have payed a trip to Brokeback mountain with his touching hug between him and Sinbad.(what would happen if he scored a hat trick!!)

Shambles 1 : Lumberjacks 0

Lumberjacks pushed forward but the Shambles soaked up all the pressure easily with Jethro and HRH combining well at the back, dealing with a LJ freekick on the edge of the box . Lumberjacks also passed the ball around well even though they were sub-less and having to recrute Jamie Affro from off the tele and the Push-me-pull-you from Doctor Doolittle! Push-me tried to cut off Blues on a darting run but misstimed his lunge leaving him sprawled on the floor, Blues seemed to forget he was chasing the ball at that point as it rolled into LJ's box, perhaps he was going to give the poor Push-me a hug?

More pressure from Lumberjacks easily soaked up,whilst Sinbad was unlucky not to score with a fierce long range effort from the half way line( Another goal another hug?) Lumberjacks tried the same trick , firing from long range but was blocked by Jamie Affro trying to leap out the way,with the follow up shot saved well by Clint.

HRH then made way for Worst to try and make an instant impression on the game,um...  Jethro put Blues through but Pull-me read the pass and used his name to full effect, free kick to Shambles on the edge of the box.Sinbad quickly knocked back to an unmarked Jethro whose shot beat both defenders but sadly not the keeper (Jethro trying to get back ahead of Flash on the goals table after Flash's great goal last week!)

Push-me connected with Jethro on a charging run but the old redwood was not for felling this time, and simply knocked it back to Clint. Sinbad was then caught in possession but decided to, having been beaten , felled a Lumberjack of his own with a neat reverse hook of the ankle...TIMBER!! Ref Dave seemed to like this manouver as he personally wanted to thank Sinbad and called him over to "congratulate" him, at least that was what we in the gallery percieved to be the case.

Worst then decided to make his instant impression by attemting a long shot to the top corner of the  goal but looked like from up here that he was aiming for the exit! Worst then intercepted an attempted long ball and, having attempted a one-two off the side wall was met by Push-me. It was then Blink's turn to talk to the animals also feeling the shoulder of Push-me as he tried to get on the end of a great through ball from Sinbad. Shambles were pushing hard for a second goal with some great link up play between Worst, Sinbad and Blink who was denied by the Lumberjack's keeper.After a small period of Lumberjacks' pressure which saw Clint pull off a fine save it was Blink who nuttmugged Push-me to put Old redwood Dad, Jethro through on goal, but Jamie affros' younger legs and harder shoulder that won the minor battle.

It was HRH's turn to make an instant impact  returning off the bench .Clint found Blues, whose trip to PASSadena paid off as he played a ball across to HRH, whose return ball through to the surging Blink found the back of the net. GOALLLLLLLLL. No hug for Blues but a nice hi-five for HRH.

Shambles 2 : Lumberjacks 0

Blues, fired up for no hug, latched onto a ball from Clint and fired in to make it another.GOAAALLLLL ( Nice celebration by Blues -- flapping his own shirt??)

Shambles 3: Lumberjacks 0

Blues tried another straight after but keeper saw it this time. Dave then blew for half time with Shambles leading 3 : 0 ...That's better!!

Second Half

Lumberjacks kicked off the second half trying to get at least a goal back but were left soaked up once again.Blues found himself in Alien territory back in defense and instead of a simple back pass to Clint from the corner, decided to bladder it as hard as possible into the corner with the ball travelling a mere foot behind him into the path of the waiting Jamie affro who calmly slotted home past Clint. Definitly no Hug for that one!!!

Shambles 3 :Lumberjacks 1

Blues tried to make ammends from the kick off having recieved the ball from Jethro , but was met by Push-me who did his thing much to the frustration of Blues who was either asking with arms stretched what was that? to the ref or was hug hunting again.Jethro was after an other goal but after a great one-two from Sinbad saw his shot sail over the bar. It was Lumberjacks turn to soak up some Shambles pressure dealing with first Blues then Sinbads efforts on goal.Blink entered the fray once again but was soon met with a crunching tackle from Mr. Affro leaving him with a rather sore left leg!.That was it we thought game over but before he subbed off, Blink found time to score once again latching onto a loose ball to calmly side foot the ball home. GOAALLLLLLL

Shambles 4 Lumberjacks 1

Lumberjacks took the kickoff as Blues was running on but he then intercepted the loose ball and placed it home GOALLLLLLL   after 6 seconds!  but still no hug!!

Shambles 5 Lumberjacks 1

History almost repeated itself as Blues again intercepted the passed ball from the kickoff but alas this time Mr Affro ,seemingly wanting a brokeback moment of his own, was all over him.Blues still managed to get a pass square across to Worst  (may have been a shot but goyt to Worst nonetheless). Worst stepped pat his marker but could only stand watch as his shot was pushed over the bar by the LJ's keeper After another attack by Mr.Affro , Worst then had to battle along the right wing boards with Jamie, and right infront of Ref Dave, turned and fended Mr.Affro off with a shrug of his ass!

Things seemed to quieten down with no clear chances for either side as both defended well. HRH found himself on the end of an Affro challenge although this resulted in him just being shunted into the corner.

Shambles were using their subs thick and fast to try and take a further advantage of the tiring Lumberjacks ( although perhaps just fast as Flash wasn't playing this week) Sinbad was unlucky not to add to his talley forcing a good save from the keeper. The surging Jamie Affro was a bit more successfull as he hit a rocket shot from the left to score another.

Shambles 5 Lumberjacks 2

Was a spirited comeback on the cards? with only a minute or so left it would appear not especially after HRH surged from the back to unselfishly square the ball to a waiting Sinbad who slotted home hs 2nd and Shambles 6th GOALLLLLLLL

Shambles 6 Lumberjacks 2

With the clock ticking Lumberjacks found themselves with a free kick 5 yards out and with Jethro trying to muster the marking,Blues was left behind and Lumberjacks pulled another back, surely that was it.

Shambles 6 Lumberjacks 3

Less than 20 seconds later another free kick in the same position allowed another unmarked attacker to slot home to make it another for Lumberjacks just before Dave blew the final whistle

Final Score

Shambles 6 Lumberjacks 4

Some great play early on but some slack play toward the end but nonetheless a good victory

posted by Flash